MotherBoard

Im about to build a new computer in april the computer show is coming up. I know that i want to make a watercooled system. But first I want to build the system and get it running normal first. But I do want to buy the parts that I would need for OCing it. I want to go with the XP 1800. What would be the best motherboard to do this with. I have heard alot about abit boards but never have used one. Right now ive been using the MSI board. Whats up with the new MSI board thats red. Does any company make a bad a** board with different colors?? I going to put 1gig of ddr ram in it. Geforce 4 mx440. And other odds and inns. If you have any suggestion. PLEASE REPLY ABOUT THE MOTHERBOARD

Opinions of motherboards greatly vary as do peoples experiences with them, I myself greatly like Abit mobo's as my experiences with them have been good. I currently run the Epox Kha+ (two of them), each of these kha+'s mobo's are completely different even though they both use the same bios and are the same revision, one is awesome, I would even go so far to say it is the best mobo I have ever had and the other is just a nightmare.
Rather than mobo's make being the issue, I think the chipset being used is more important, as when overclocking you also have to consider the other hardware and when you remember there are some great value mobo's available at this time, any money saved on the mobo could be spent on better quality ram and hard drives etc..
Go with a good chipset and a mobo you know and can afford.

Remember not all operating systems support the amount of memory you wish to put in the system

So what is a good chipset to have on the mobo's??? For what is sounds like am going to do

bump

hmmmm with an 1800+ I wouldn't recommend the new MSI K7T266 Pro2 cuz they dont OC that well... most people couldn't get it over 145FSB. I would really recommend the Abit KR7A, or Epox 8KHA+ or the shuttle AK31 Rev 3 or AK35GTR. I own an MSI board and 1 Asus A7V266-E and a shuttle Ak35GTR and I would say that the Shuttle OCs best out of the three that I have. As for Chipset wise.. I would go with VIA instead of ALi

The Radman been studying the mobo q for a while now, trying to make up his mind as which way to go. Some conclusions.
1) Via 266a chipset. Consistently excellent.
2) KT333 not develped enough (and may never be, with other changes on horizon)
3) Research, research, research!!! Look at what is out there, and decide what is important to you-raid. onboard sound( there's some good ones out there now), clockability, onboard lan, are a few options that come to mind.
4) Have narrowed it down to - Abit KR7A, Soltek SL75DRV4, Shuttle AK35GTR. Leanin' towards the Abit.

Have fun!!!!

Heres my pick in this category:

Shuttle AK35GTR
Epox 8KHA+
Abit KR7A

That's the best motherboard there is out there for AMD!

Yodums

So what out of the three listed above what would you pick for the use of a amd 1800.

my personal favorite is the shuttle ak35gtr just because it offers high vcore options (up to 2.3) it'll give you some nice overclocking. The KR7A is nice as well but it costs more and has less vcore options. So really i'd suggest which ever of these two works better for you.

The Shuttle and Epox boards already mentioned are consistently rated very highly. Given that you want cool colors, you might want to check out the new Soltek. It's based on the KT333 chipset which is very new, and the board is purple.

nihili